Mold for fence-posts.



J. LANE.

MOLD FOB. FENCE POSTS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.22,1910.

Patented Oct. 11,1910.

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.tamped, after which the mold is opened and I JOHN LANE, OF HOLLY, MICHIGAN.

MOLD FOR FENCE-POSTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

Application filed January 22, 1910. Serial No. 539,449.

posts and similar cylindrical structures.

It has for its objecta mold adapted to be used for the construction of a fence post in the place it is to occupy, and consists essentially of a sheet metal casing without hinge, but split along one side from end to end, and provided along the edge with means by which the opening may be closed and the entire mold brought into closed relation and held in such closed relation while the cement or other material of which the post is constructed is placed in the mold and sprung away from the finished post, which is left standing in place.

In the drawings :-Figure 1, is a side elevation showing the mold prepared to receive the cement filling. Fig. 2, is a section showing the top end of the mold and the funnel used in connection therewith. Fig. 3, is a section showing the bottom end of the mold with the tamping device in place inside the mold. Fig. 4, is a cross section at the line 4:4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5, shows the clip used to hold together the edges at the bottom end of the mold.

The mold 1 is made of comparatively thin sheet metal stiffened and strengthened at its edges 2 and 3 with angle irons 4 and 5 which extend from end to end of the mold. Preferably the mold is made to correspond with the ordinary fence post, larger at that end which is intended to be at the bottom than it is at the top. A clip 6 with forks 7 adapted to straddle the joined angle bars 4 and 5 is placed in position to hold the bottom end or the large end of the mold in place. The mold is set upright in the post hole and arranged in the position that the post is to have when finished. A funnel with three or four external legs 10 is placed with the mouth of the funnel inside the mold and with the legs 10 outside the mold at the top end. A spud 11 having a perforated head and a hollow handle 12 is dropped into the mold, and the cement material in a semi-dry condition, dry enough so that it will not run easily, is poured into the mold and pounded down with the spud. The spud is made with a hollow handle and a hollow head in order that a. reinforcing rod 13 may be inserted through the spud and its handle, dropped to the bottom of the post with the end extending up as high as may be desired, and the reinforcing iron is held. in place by the spud itself, and because it engages through the spud and its handle it does not obstruct the constant and proper pounding down of the material in the mold. The part of the mold above the ground is held together by clips: wire hooks or eyes 141 are inserted into the mass of the material at suitable places, the projecting part of the eye reaching through between the edges of the mold, and they may be put in place anywhere that may be desired along the extent of the opening. The material of the post is of a consistency such that .it will not escape through the opening, and the slight rib or ridge made along the side is immaterial and harmless. After the material has been put in place the funnel may be at once removed. The mold should be left in place until the cement sets, the time depending on the character of the cement.

This mold may be built in place rapidly with material that is delivered into the funnel from a wagon, and the mold, when loosened from the post and lifted so that its bottom end rises above the surface of the ground, may generally be sprung apart enough to free the mold entirely from the post, or if at any time it is difficult to spring the mold sufliciently for this purpose, the mold may be lifted over the top easily.

What I claim is 1. A mold for fence posts, having in combination a sheet metal. form having one side vertically aperturecl throughout its length, reinforcing angle irons attached to each edge of said apertured portion, with a flange of each extending outwardly from the plane of the periphery of the sheet metal portion, a vertically extending clip provided with a plurality of rigid jaw portions located at intervals therealong, adapted to engage the outwardly flanged portions of said angle irons to hold them and thereby the adjacentedges of the sheet metal form in desired relation to one another, and a hollow handled tamping device adapted to engage within said form, substantially as described.

2. A mold for fence posts, having in com bination a laterally apertured sheet metal form, the edge portions on each side of the aperture being outwardly flanged, reinforcing angle irons attached to each flanged edge portion, and a rigid clip member of substantially the same length as said apertured portion, said clip member being provided at in tervals along its length with jaw portions adapted to engage firmly about the projecting edge and reinforcing parts of the mold S2 was and to hold the same against spreading 15 JOHN LANE.

Witnesses:

CHARLES T. BURTON, VIRGINIA C. SPRATT. 

